


The consequences of overconfidence

by purple_wildflower



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Magic, Monsters, Platonic Relationships, Reader-Insert, Sorcerers, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 14:02:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30140673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purple_wildflower/pseuds/purple_wildflower
Summary: You are Dr Strange's assistant and apprentice, but he won't allow you to study advanced magic, even though you believe you are ready. One night, you practice on your own and conjure up something dangerous. How are you going to get out of this?
Relationships: Stephen Strange/Reader
Kudos: 11





	The consequences of overconfidence

**Author's Note:**

> No romance, just a normal teacher-student relationship with a bit of fluff in the end.  
> Hope you enjoy it.  
> Comments are always welcome :)

Silently, you open the door to the library and sneak into the room. You quickly shut the door and lean against it, sighing and hoping that no one has seen you. With a wave of your hand you create a ball of light that flies over your head and follows you as you walk to the middle of the room. Or actually, the huge hall with walls of books upon books and a bunch of other stuff for magical purposes.  
Slowly, you walk over to the shelf with books for advanced mages. Before you give the books your full attention you throw one last nervous look over your shoulder. But apparently, no one has followed you. Midnight is long past and Stephen is probably sitting in his private study or has gone to bed already.  
Besides, did you not have the right to do this? You are a talented sorcerer and ready to practice advanced magic, even if Stephen won't believe it. But didn't he always say that no knowledge in the library was forbidden?  
I can totally handle this, you keep saying to yourself, and Stephen will be quite surprised when he finds out what I'm capable of.  
Still, a weird feeling in your stomach remains. You try to ignore it and focus on the books.  
You have no idea where to start. The books have covers of different beautiful colors, bronze and midnight blue and deep purple. But most of them don't have a title on their spine. You pick a huge, shiny golden one and take it out of the shelf, nearly dropping it in the process. Dust swirls around and a few loose pages try to find their way out of the book. You quickly put them back into place. Hopefully you won't damage anything because that would be impossible to explain to your superior.  
You take the book over to a desk and flip it open. A lot of strange letters or runes or whatever they are, are looking at you. You start to read and try to figure out what this book is actually all about. After reading the first few pages, you are no wiser than before.  
If you are being honest with yourself (and you are trying very hard to be), you don't understand half these spells. As you keep turning the pages, frustration keeps growing inside of you until you finally find something interesting. A spell to create a magical sending of some sort, a servant that would do household chores and stuff like that. You look at the page and think. A good way to escape all the physical work you have to do in the library on a regular basis.  
You read through the spell again.  
This looks actually quite manageable, you say to yourself.  
A lot of the words sound familiar. Plus, the spell is neither very long nor complicated nor are any weird items required. Your self-confidence is coming back and you make a decision.  
You try to memorize the words and hand movements and then walk to the middle of the hall where you would have a little bit more space. Before your can change your mind you begin to recite the words.  
A white light of human shape starts to form in front of you. Encouraged, you go on and basically shout the words. After the first paragraph you stop. Have the last three words actually been correct? You don't dare to look into the book, afraid that the light might disappear. Suddenly you smell smoke and know that something has gone terribly wrong. Before you can do anything, the white human shape bursts into green flames. In your panic you try to finish the spell but can't remember the last words. You can only watch in shock as the thing in front of you keeps growing until it's about 7 feet tall, with horrible horns and tentacles and fangs. It looks nothing like the servant sending that was described in the book. You have created a monster.  
Unable to move you just stand there and watch as a large tentacle comes swinging towards you. Somehow you manage to dodge it. Then you suddenly remember all your long training sessions and create a magical weapon. When the next attack comes, you are prepared and ward it off but you also notice that your magic sword doesn't seem to do any harm to the creature. You stand there for a moment, frozen, and then do the first thing that comes to your mind: run.  
You can hear the fiery monster following you and knocking everything over that stands in its way. Bookshelves, tables and all kind of furniture are being smashed and flying around.  
You cover your head with your hands and keep running.  
Then you see the end of the hall at once and have to decide where you want to go: down the stairs or into the room to your right.  
I cannot let it cause more chaos and destruction, you desperately think. This has to stop.  
You take a deep breath and gather what little strength is left in your body. Then you turn around and face the creature once more.  
You parry a blow that sends you sliding across the floor but somehow you manage to stay on your feet. The next hit follows immediately and this time you're not fast enough. You raise your sword and ward it off in the last minute but your hand touches the magical flesh of the creature. It's hot and burns your skin.  
You scream and let go of your sword, which disappears into nothingness. Now you are defenseless. Slowly, you start to retreat, holding your burnt hand and try to endure the pain. The monster knows it has won and approaches you.  
Suddenly a tall figure in a burgundy cloak jumps between you and the green creature. So the Sorcerer Supreme finally has taken notice of your little adventure.  
He creates a large glowing shield and starts to battle the monster you had created. You just stand there and watch them, frozen, in terror. You cannot even feel relief that he has come to your aid. It's all just so unbelievable and unreal.  
All of a sudden a green tentacle reaches out to you. You stumble backwards, trip and fall over the rail of the staircase. A free fall of 60 feet till you would come crashing to the ground. You scream all the way down, when suddenly something soft wraps around you and stops both your fall and your scream. It was the Cloak of Levitation. You sigh in relief and try to catch your breath as it slowly flies you back to the upper hall.  
“Thank you”, you say eventually.  
The grip of the cloak around you tightens for a moment, apparently in disapproval.  
“I know, I know”, you mutter. “I've gotten myself into this.”  
The cloak lets you down and you look around. The green fiery tentacle monster is nowhere to be seen, but instead you are looking into the fiery eyes of a very, very upset Stephen and you think that you'd rather deal with the monster right now.  
But when he sees your terrified expression, his gaze softens a bit. Still, when he comes walking towards you, you take a step back, not knowing what is about to come. He stops in his tracks and reaches out to touch your hand.  
“Are you alright?” he asks.  
You open your mouth to speak, but no words are coming. Tears are welling up in your eyes and you cannot help but start weeping waterfalls.  
The sorcerer quickly closes the gap between you and takes you in his arms, something he has never done before.  
“It's OK. It's gone”, he reassures you, again and again, gently stroking your hair.  
You lean your head against his chest and take a deep breath. His powerful presence helps you to calm down.  
“Are you alright?” he asks again.  
You simply nod, not trusting your voice.  
“No, you're not”, he states. “Sit down”.  
He pushes you onto a chair and starts to treat your burnt hand. You say nothing and just watch him, his hands trembling only a little bit as he cleans the wound with an antiseptic and wraps a sterile bandage around it.  
“There you go”, he finally says.  
He probably wants to say something else but a look into your tired and scared eyes makes him think twice.  
“Go and get some rest”, he simply says and pats your shoulder, stands up and walks out of the room. In the door frame he stops and turns around.  
“There will be consequences.” And then he is gone. 

You find out about the consequences next morning. Stephen is sitting in his favorite armchair, reading the newspaper. He puts it down when you enter the room and gives you a long contemplative look. You gulp and prepare for whatever is coming. But his words surprise you.  
“Since I cannot keep you from experimenting on your own, I have decided that you are allowed to study advanced magic, but only in my presence and under my guidance. No more acting on your own”, he adds sternly and you think that studying advanced magic is probably not going to be as much fun as you had hoped it would be.


End file.
